You Don’t Have to be the Same as Others

A MIDDLE-EASTERN boy grew up in two different worlds
But his own is being hurt.
His mom is on one side of a war,
His dad on the other.
He feels like he’s not heard:
Not wanted or noticed,
Feeling so alone,
Untouched, not cared about.
At school, he’s just quiet–
Scary thoughts fill his mind.
“Where do I go
If my mom’s Israeli and my dad’s from Iran?
Do I stick to one culture?
Do I forget about both?
Are my parents getting divorced?
Where do I go?
What will my friends think?
My classmates and teachers?
Will I get bullied or will I stay invisible?”
Classmates whisper to each other,
Wondering why he’s so quiet.
But none of them bother to ask.
He will never belong,
Or at least he doesn’t think he will…

A girl from MEXICO living in the U.S.
Gets mimicked and made fun of for not speaking English–
Crying herself to sleep at night,
Scared that she will get deported.
She feels like she doesn’t have a place in the world,
She feels like she never will.
She grew up in a poor family,
Poverty surrounding her;
An escape to the US.
She’s terrified of the people around her–
Of the place her family fled to…
She feels like she doesn’t have a place in the world:
She knows that at any day, at any time,
ICE officers could be breaking down her front door,
Grabbing her wrist,
Separating her from her parents…
All because they don’t have visas.
Warm, salty tears streaming down her face,
She cries herself to sleep once again.
She will never belong,
Or at least she doesn’t think she will…

A LESBIAN girl with homophobic parents
Keeps worrying about how she will come out.
How will her parents accept her
When they tell her being gay is a sin?
Just like the other two, she feels so alone.
Her friends won’t understand how she feels;
She thinks nobody will accept her
For who she is.
Not her parents,
Not her friends,
Not her family–
All just because of the fact that she’s into girls.
She’s questioning herself,
Although she should just be who she is.
She will never belong,
Or at least she doesn’t think she will…

A little CHINESE boy
Being bullied in class:
He can’t go a single day
Without being called “ching chong.”
People make jokes 
About all Asians looking alike;
He has the same last name
As four other kids in his grade.
People ask him if the Chinese
Really eat their pets,
They bully him for being skinny and weak.
He, too, feels alone 
He will never belong,
Or at least he doesn’t think he will…

What THEY don’t know is that they aren’t alone–
That they aren’t alone in the world.
They haven’t realized 
That they DO belong.
Regardless of their differences,
They all have one thing in common:
You don’t have to be the same as others
To be a good person.